5 Big News Stories Overnight - Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Texas: PAXTON TOPPLES CORNYN IN SENATE RUNOFF

Texas Tribune reports:

Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated longtime incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in Texas’ blockbuster GOP runoff. Paxton will face Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in the general election.

Cornyn’s defeat marks the end of a four-decade career in Texas politics during which the Republican Party has been transformed.

Arizona: 'Phoenix Built an Empire of Cubicle Jobs. AI Is Coming to Tear It Down.'

Wall Street Journal reports:

All around this desert city’s sprawling metro area, low-rise office parks with tinted windows and vast parking lots stretch to the horizon. This is America’s back office.

Abundant land and cheap labor made Phoenix a premier place for companies to stash lower-paid office workers who don’t need to be physically close to clients or headquarters. The cubicle-based jobs—customer service, data entry, payroll processing—created a vital ladder to the middle class, helping replace factory work lost to overseas competition. 

Now, these white-collar jobs are fading, too, thanks to continued offshoring and, increasingly, artificial intelligence. Tens of thousands of local workers suddenly face an uncertain future.

A test grader saw her work outsourced to India. A customer-relations manager, recently laid off and his savings running low, is looking to become a bartender. Job-placement firms that supply companies with back-office workers are seeing less demand and are cutting their own staff, too. Those who still have jobs are increasingly leery of automation, even as it’s become an unavoidable part of their days.

Putin burns through his best missiles in desperate Ukraine fightback

The Telegraph reports:

Until this weekend, the prevailing narrative in the Russia-Ukraine war was that Vladimir Putin was on the back foot.

Ukraine’s long-range drones struck four miles from the Kremlin. Russia’s victory day parade was only possible because Volodymyr Zelensky agreed not to attack it. Putin now spends much of his time in underground bunkers. The Russian people are frustrated and worried in equal measure as the war is thrust upon them at home.

Looking to arrest the decline, Putin fired 90 of his biggest, most damaging missiles at Kyiv.

On Sunday, every one of the Ukrainian capital’s districts was hit, by Kh-101 cruise missiles, Iskander-M/S-400s, Kh-47M2 Kinzhals, 3M22 Zircons and one hypersonic Oreshnik.

PHOTO: Kremlin News Service

Middle East: Violence Across the Region

Al Jazeera reports:

Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon killed 31 people and injured 40 others on Tuesday as Israel’s forces intensified their strikes and issued dozens of forced displacement orders for towns and villages in Lebanon’s south and east.

Panic has been reported in southern Lebanon as people flee the intensifying onslaught by Israeli ground forces pushing deeper into Lebanese territory.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tehran says Iranian officials have denounced the “blatant violations” of the ceasefire by the United States, and there is “zero trust” after US attacks on southern Iran on Monday, which have shaken ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

'North Korea tests new lightweight multi-purpose missile launch system'

France 24 reports:

North Korea said Wednesday it had tested a new lightweight multi-purpose missile launching system and a multiple tactical cruise missile weapon system the previous day.

The tests, previously reported by South Korea's military, were overseen by the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

South Korea said on Tuesday the North fired several projectiles, including a ballistic missile, off its west coast, the latest in a flurry of tests this year. Seoul said the missiles flew about 80 kilometres (50 miles).

Analysts have said that by conducting a series of missile tests in recent months, Pyongyang may be trying to take advantage of eroding international norms to cement its nuclear status.